YWCA plans to unite community with ‘Stand Against Racism’

Thursday

Apr 20, 2017 at 1:45 PMApr 20, 2017 at 10:21 PM

By Austin Harrington, Staff Writer aharrington@amestrib.com

The YWCA of Ames and Iowa State University are attempting to combat racism while bringing the community together in a peaceful show of unity in the second year of an event the organization is calling “Stand Against Racism.”

The event is will be from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, on Lincoln Way, near the University Avenue intersection. The demonstration is meant to show Ames residents the community is working together to eliminate racism, according to Angela Merrick, of the YWCA of Ames-ISU.

“The purpose is to build community along with those who work for racial justice and to raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities,” Merrick said.

As part of the demonstration, participants will be encouraged to make and bring supportive signs and to wear orange T-shirts at the event. People are also encouraged to show support on social media platforms, Merrick said.

“Last year, we tried to kind of mimic the ice bucket challenge, and we asked the community to take a selfie wearing orange and then use (the hashtag) #StandAgainstRacism,” Merrick said.

Along with the demonstration on Lincoln Way, Merrick said the social media campaign will continue this year, as well.

“Our hopes are to kind of bring a sense of unity in the community,” Merrick said. “So this will be a peaceful stand in unity to show our neighbors that as a community we are joining together to continuously work to eliminate racism.”

Along with the event on April 27, Merrick said the organization is also urging people to take a pledge to be mindful of the issues facing the community, challenge personal biases, educate themselves on differences and act to make a difference.

The pledge can be found at www.standagainstracism.org/pledge.

“With everything going on in the country right now, there’s a lot of people coming to the YWCA asking what they can do to get involved and they want to do something,” Merrick said. “This is a great way to show the community that you are going to take a stand against racism in the Ames and Iowa State community.”